Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab out of IPL

Governing Council to serve notice on investors who own Kochi franchise

Rajasthan Royals, which won the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament in 2008, and Kings XI Punjab will not be part of the Twenty20 event from 2011.

At a meeting held here on Sunday, the reconstituted IPL Governing Council terminated the franchise agreements with Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt. Ltd. (Rajasthan Royals) and K.P.H. Dream Cricket Pvt. Ltd. (Kings XI Punjab). The Council decided to issue a show cause notice on a group of investors which holds the unincorporated joint venture of the Kochi franchise, asking them to resolve their disputes and give their group a legal entity that will hold the franchise rights. The investors have been given 10 days to respond to the notice.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) consulted Attorney-General Goolam Vahanvati and a senior Supreme Court lawyer before terminating the two franchise agreements.

BCCI president Shashank Manohar presided over the meeting.

Governing Council chairman Chirayu Amin and member Arun Jaitley — who are on the BCCI disciplinary committee that investigates the charges against the former IPL chairman, Lalit Modi — and N. Srinivasan, principal office-bearer of the BCCI and ex-officio member of the Governing Council, did not attend the meeting.

A release issued by the BCCI on the meeting said: “ It was unanimously decided that the franchise agreements with K.P.H. Dream Cricket Pvt. Ltd. and Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt. Ltd. be terminated forthwith, based on the legal opinions obtained by the BCCI… It was further… unanimously decided to issue a notice to the unincorporated joint venture which holds the Kochi franchise, calling upon them to resolve all their disputes and form a JVC which will hold the franchise rights.”

The decision is in line with the following observations made by Mr. Manohar at a press conference after the BCCI AGM held here on September 29. “The IPL will be played with nine or eight teams if we don't get an appropriate response from the three franchises. There are ownership-related issues with Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab.”

The Kochi franchise was won by Rendezvous Sports World Ltd. for $333.33 million, together with Anchor Earth Pvt. Ltd., Parinee Developers, Filmwaves Combine, Anand Shyam Estates Developers and Vivek Venugopal.

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